Bahraini startup becomes popular by turning Instagram photos into art

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As serendipity would have it, entrepreneur Yazin Al-Irhayim
stumbled into a lucrative business idea while attending a workshop
at the business incubator where his former start-up, Print.bh, was
located. As he walked out, he decided to turn it into a brand new
startup.

“This is my second startup in under a year,” says the 28-year old,
who quit a six figure job with General Electric to pursue
entrepreneurship, applying everything he learned from his
unsuccessful venture to his new one.

“I attended an iPhonography workshop (photography using the iPhone)
delivered by Rasha Yousif at the Bahrain Business Incubator Center,
where our office was located. I didn't really know what to expect,
but I attended anyway since it seemed interesting. It was during
the coffee break that Rasha gave me the idea of doing canvas art,”
he explains.

With each canvas backed by a 100-year guarantee, Al-Irhayim’s new
venture, Canvas.bh turns any
photo—no matter how small—into beautiful pieces of immortalized
art.

With the growing popularity of online photo-sharing site, Instagram, Canvas.bh has rapidly gained
traction in the Bahraini market.

“We officially launched on April 30, and our customer base has
grown by 140% with a ~90% increase in orders [since our earliest
days]. Currently, 35% of our customer base has placed repeat
orders. It has been really good—much better than anything I
expected,” Al-Irhayim says of the customer uptake.

“We've seen mothers, sisters, brothers and friends print canvases
of each other. They make wonderful gifts, and people love the fact
that it's long-lasting—unlike chocolates or perfume, for instance.
We also work with professional photographers to create canvas art
for galleries, and exhibitions," says Al-Irhayim.

With over 130 million monthly active users, Instagram is one of the
fastest growing social networks, and the 4th most
popular social media site in the Arab world according to a
report by Northwestern University in Qatar.

Bahrain has the highest Instagram user base (61% of respondents),
which is more than four times the regional average.

And while many entrepreneurs have begun capitalizing on Instagram
and enabling users to bring their images to life through a tapestry
of items such as stickers, t-shirts, bangles, and mugs, Al-Irhayim
maintains he would rather do one thing, and do it better than
anyone else.

“That's the mantra I live by. We do canvas, and only canvas. We
import the very best materials from the US and Germany—coupled with
our secret image enlargement technology—the competition don't stand
a chance!” he grins.

“No fine art printer in Bahrain would touch an Instagram
image, because the image is so ridiculously small,” he adds.
However, the cost of maintaining quality has been somewhat of a
challenge.

“Importing materials is an absolute nightmare. I'm no longer
surprised when I see the shipping prices exceed the price of the
item I'm shipping! And restrictions on transporting certain
materials (like liquids) often means numerous delays and piles of
paperwork to process,” Al-Irhayim complains.

Al-Irhayim is a serial entrepreneur who also won first place in the
2011 Bahrain Startup
Weekend for Charitime,
an online platform that allows talented donors to fund causes by
volunteering their skills; as he now focuses on Canvas.bh, he's
looking to expand across the Arab region.

“We've had so much demand within Bahrain, that we've had to spend a
lot of time putting together systems and processes that will help
us scale sustainably, he says.

The plan for regional expansion is set to roll out in phases,
starting with Kuwait and Qatar in August, followed by UAE, Oman and
Saudi in subsequent months.

“I'm also looking for other crazy people,” he adds. “We just might
start something big, or have a lot of fun trying!” Those who are
interested can reach out
to him.

Leena Al Olaimy is a social entrepreneur and professional idealist as co-founder of 3BL Triple Bottom Line Associates: a Bahrain-based social impact and sustainability consultancy and think-do-tank committed to the MENA region's sustainable development. She is also the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) Quality Control Consultant for Sustainability Reporting Training Partners in the MENA Region.